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Since Nathan's closed in 2008, the building with seven kitchens and a 9,000-square-foot lot has remained vacant.

Kim Wurm, sales and leasing agent with Weichert Commercial, said there have been numerous lookers and some “low-ball” cash offers. But the signs remain up on a building the owners hoped to sell for $4 million.

Across the valley, some of the large buildings with 25,000 square feet of space or more are increasingly tough to lease as well, said Kathleen Howard, executive vice president with NAI Capital.

More retailers are looking to “right-size” their stores, opting to abandon a cookie-cutter approach for a more tailored strategy that aims to create the right size space for each specific market.

Some retailers are dividing larger spaces.

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National retailers Best Buy and Ulta Beauty moved to the Desert Crossing shopping center in Palm Desert and into space formerly occupied by Circuit City.

Best Buy shuttered its store in the Town Center Shopping Center near Westfield Palm Desert shopping center and reopened in a smaller, 35,000-square-foot store at Fred Waring Drive and Highway 111.

The move coincides with Best Buy's strategy to trim square footage at many of its stores, said Ruth Ann Moore, Palm Desert's economic development manager. Moore expects Ulta to be a good addition to Desert Crossing's tenant mix.

Ulta Beauty left The River shopping center in Rancho Mirage and opened when tenant improvements at Desert Crossing were completed.

Ulta opened about 35 stores nationwide last year and posted a 21.8 percent increase in net sales during the third quarter, company officials said.

As for the castle in Indio, there finally may be someone that's interested.

“We just got an offer on it for a ‘Chuck E Cheese-kind of use' from a good, local, experienced family,” said Steve Lyle, CEO of Coldwell Banker Commercial Lyle & Associates.